Method and system for automatic running of tournaments

ABSTRACT

A method and system for assuring the smooth, rapid execution and automatic control of a tournament. Participants&#39; names are announced, and the participants notified to take their turn in the tournament by means of one or more electronic displays accessible to a number of potential participants. Personal identity data corresponding to the participants are entered, up to a given number of participants, based on the particular tournament variant via a data reading unit linked to each display. The groups of participants are arranged in order using a random access technique. Upon completion of each match, the winner is announced, and the groups of participants are organized for succeeding rounds. The tournament continues until completion, when the results are analyzed by the system and displayed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

A method of organizing players in an automatically run contest.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Such a system and a method are known from DE 4 222 896. In this system adata carrier which includes participant and control data is introducedinto one or more reading devices, these data are accepted by a computingunit and the pairings for the first tournament round are determinedtherefrom. These pairings are then displayed on the display device andthe current match is played. After conclusion of the match, theparticipant data carriers are introduced to the reading devices in apredetermined sequence, for example, winner first, and the tournamentresults are determined therefrom under control of the computing unit.The individual phases of running the tournament are strictly determinedby the sequence of the data carriers introduced at the time into thereading devices, so that the persons otherwise necessary to run thetournament as tournament of game leaders are superfluous. Since theinput of the necessary information is moreover effected with the aid ofmachine readable data carriers and no keyboard data input is thereforeprovided, input errors are avoided and any kind of manipulation is ruledout.

In this method, before beginning a tournament and after switching on theapparatus, the desired system card is first inserted into the slot ofthe reader, so that the computer can accept the program corresponding tothe desired tournament, for example, KO system, double KO system.Likewise, different variants of the course of the match or tournamentcan be entered with such a system card. Although this method hasbasically proved its worth, at the beginning of a tournament it isnecessary to settle between the game participants, which tournament andmatch variant is to be selected by the system card. This needs theagreement of the game participants in order that the match or tournamentvariant desired by all game participants can be selected by means of thesystem card. This system card is, however, frequently not at hand, e.g.,it is misplaced, so that the tournament cannot begin or can only beginafter a delay. In addition, discussion about the presently desired matchvariant often leads to dispute, so that a game leader must once againdecide which variant is to be selected. Moreover, in tournaments with alarge number of game participants, all game participants are frequentlynot present when determining the match variant of the tournament, sothat delays can occur from this.

As a consequence, the invention is based on the object of developing amethod and a system according to DE 4 222 896 so that the beginning ofthe tournament can largely be run automated, so that a friction-free,more rapid running of tournaments results.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for automatic running oftournaments, including the steps of announcing a tournament variant andcalling up the tournament participants on one or more display devicesaccessible to a plurality of potential game participants within apredetermined interval of time, and inputting personal identificationdata associated with the respective game participants on a data readingdevice coupled to the display device up to a particular number of gameparticipants based on the tournament variant. The method furtherincludes grouping the game participants randomly, running the game witha corresponding automatic determination of winners of each round,sorting the next groupings of participants for the next round, andterminating the game with an analysis of the tournament rounds. Themethod further comprises printng the determined tournament results.Further, in the method, the game participant who first enters hisidentification data is made the tournament leader, who can terminate thecourse of the tournament by renewed input of his identification data.

In particular, by the announcement and the calling up of tournamentparticipants on an electronic display device within a predeterminedinterval of time, the potential match participants can "put down theirnames" for the current tournament by entering personal identificationdata. Through this it is possible for the particular individual personto be told about the current match or tournament variant on the displaydevice before "putting down his name" and then to decide whether theywant to participate also in the current match or tournament variant. Assoon as the number of game participants provided for the currenttournament has been reached, the drawing of lots for the gameparticipant groupings is automatically started. It is also possiblethrough this for a plurality of players to reserve for a certain matchvariant and then only on attaining the provided number of gameparticipants for the individual players to be called out. In particularwith supra-local tournaments, an announcement of a match variant canthereby be made each time, so that players living at a distance can alsoparticipate in the tournament. This is especially advantageous forelectronic darts games, for example, when, for example, playing groupseach with four players at eight different places wish to participate ina large tournament with 32 players. The calling up or the announcementof a certain match variant (e.g., in an electronic darts game) ispreferably effected in this by a central computer, which sends out thecorresponding announcement over a network, especially the publictelephone network, to the connected units. The participants can therebyhave access to such a unit with an electronic display device, toregister their interest in participation in the current announced game.Depending on the interest of the potential game participants, atournament can thus be put together after a few seconds or minutes andthus begin without delay.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the system and method according tothe invention appear from the following description of an embodiment,with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the basic system structure for carrying out the method; and

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the individual method steps.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The basic structure of the system for automatic running of tournamentsis shown in FIG. 1. A system 1 comprises at least one (preferably more,however) display device 2 for announcing a current tournament variant.As well as calling up the tournament participants, there can also beshown on the display device 2 a guide on the running of the tournamentfor the information of interested participants, as well as, for example,a ranking list of the last played tournament. On the basis of thisinformation, the game participant can decide whether he will take partin the currently announced tournament. In order to "put down his name"for this tournament, he can enter his personal identification data on adata reading device 3 coupled to the display device 2, in particular byinserting a smart card. His personal identification data is thereby readinto a data processing device 4, which is also coupled to the displaydevice 2 and updates the current "entrant data" and the number ofinterested potential game participants. This data for beginning thetournament can be transmitted over a data transmission network to allconnected display devices 2, for example, by means respective modeminterfaces 5 feeding into the telephone network 6, so that further gameparticipants are also connected "on-line" and can ascertain the currententry status to the tournament, as well as likewise being able to enterthe tournament by inserting a smart card.

The display device 2, the data reading device 3 and the data processingdevice 4 are in the preferred manner in the form of a PC computer, whilethe display can be a conventional VDU and the data reading device 3 isformed, for example, by a smart card reader, which is fitted in place ofa diskette or hard disk drive. The units 7 thus formed can also beconnected over the network 6 to a central computer 8, which coordinatesthe plurality of units 7 coupled thereto and controls their displaydevices 2.

The basic flow chart for the automatic running of the tournament isshown in FIG. 2. As indicated above, in method step a) an announcementof a tournament to be arranged is displayed on an electronic displaydevice 2 within a predetermined interval of time, this display device 2being accessible by a plurality of potential game participants. Aftercompleted "putting down of names" in the shape of method step b)="dataentry", the entry to the tournament is completed in a short time, inparticular when a predetermined number of participants is reached. Theindividual groupings or the pairings of the game participants playingagainst one another are then allocated, especially by the randomprinciple. After running the current match, the winner in electronicgames, for example, the known video games, is announced directly on arespective unit 7. Then in step e) the allocation of the groupings forthe next round is made, for example, on the KO system, through eighthfinals, quarter finals, semi-finals through to the final game. In theconcluding step f) the tournament is analyzed and if desired a newranking list is determined. After conclusion of the tournament the nexttournament game is announced again in method step a). Depending on theloading of the network 6 however, a next tournament can already beannounced concurrently to the nonparticipating units 7, while onetournament game is still running. If the announcement does not encountersufficient interest within a predetermined interval of time, the nextmatch variant, for example, stored in the central computer 8, isannounced, so that a change in the course of the tournament is providedeach time.

As indicated above, this method and the corresponding system areespecially suited to electronic games, for example, for so-calledjoystick-controlled video games, which are connected through aninterface 9 to the data processing device 4 of each unit 7 (cf. FIG. 1).However, a schematically indicated electronic darts game can also beprovided as the games apparatus 10, on which the visitors to a gamesarcade at site A can, for example, play on one unit 7 each against thevisitors to a restaurant at site B, as is indicated in the lower part ofFIG. 1. Thus, a plurality of potential game participants can thus beaddressed through the networking over the telephone network 6 and canparticipate in the game variant X currently offered and announced on thedisplay device 2, depending on kind of game or playing strength. If, forexample, a game variant X is announced for which the players at site Aare competitive with the players at site B, the two parties to thetournament can "pre-book" tournament participation by insertingcorresponding smart cards. The machine readable data carrier which isinserted in the data reading device 3 is preferably in the form of asmart card or magnetic strip card. This data carrier comprises personalidentification data, so that the respective opponents can be recognizedand a person-related ranking list can be established. This appliesespecially to so-called club cards, which a potential games player canpurchase, in order to be able to participate in the game system with anumber of potential game participants.

I claim:
 1. A method for automatic running of tournaments, comprisingthe steps of:announcing and calling up tournament participants on one ormore electronic display device(s) accessible to said tournamentparticipants; inputting personal identification data associated with thetournament participants up to a predetermined number of the tournamentparticipants on a data reading device coupled to the display device;randomly allocating groupings of the tournament participants forcompetition in at least one round of the tournament; running thetournament with an automatic determination of winners of each round ofthe tournament; allocating winners of each round to participantgroupings of tournament rounds up to a final round; and terminating thetournament with an analysis of tournament results that are automaticallygenerated, wherein a tournament participant who first enters a personalidentification data is made a tournament leader and the tournament isterminated by a subsequent input of the identification data of thetournament leader.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein thetournament results are displayed on the electronic display device.
 3. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the tournament results are printed.4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the step of inputting thepersonal identification data is effected by inserting a smart card inthe data reading device.
 5. A system, comprising:at least one displaydevice for announcing and calling up tournament participants, saiddisplay device being accessible to said tournament participants; atleast one data reading device coupled to the display device for entry ofidentification data by the tournament participants up to a predeterminednumber of tournament participants; and at least one data processingdevice for allocating tournament participant groupings, for running thetournament with an automatic determination of winners of each round ofthe tournament, for allocating determined winners to the tournamentparticipant groupings of a next round up to a final round, and forterminating the tournament with an automatically generated analysis oftournament results, wherein a tournament participant who first enters apersonal identification data is made a tournament leader and thetournament is terminated by a subsequent input of the identificationdata of the tournament leader.
 6. A system according to claim 5, whereinat least one interface is provided in the data processing device forconnection of electronic games apparatuses.
 7. A system according toclaim 5, wherein the display device, the data reading device and thedata processing device are coupled together in a personal computer.
 8. Asystem according to claim 7, wherein a plurality of units are providedand are connected by means of a modem to a telephone network.
 9. Asystem according to claim 8, wherein a central computer is provided tocontrol the plurality of units and analyze the tournament results.
 10. Amethod for automatic running of tournaments, comprising the stepsof:announcing and calling up tournament participants on one or moreelectronic display device(s) accessible to said tournament participants;inputting personal identification data associated with the tournamentparticipants up to a predetermined number of the tournament participantson a data reading device coupled to the display device, which device isaccessed by at least one tournament participant to input data for thatparticipant; randomly allocating groupings of the tournamentparticipants for competition in at least one round of the tournamentafter the input of said personal identification data by said at leastone participant; running the tournament with an automatic determinationof winners of each round of the tournament; allocating winners of eachround to participant groupings of tournament rounds up to a final round;and terminating the tournament with an analysis of tournament resultsthat are automatically generated.